During the summer, Tottenham Hotspur were linked with a whole host of potential new forwards, but one name that cropped up more than most was that of Mattia Destro.

Reports even went so far as to claim that Spurs were in talks with the player's club Roma in a bid to bring the 23-year-old to White Hart Lane.

As we know, that move failed to materialise, with Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino opting not to bring in any new strikers and relying instead on Emmanuel Adebayor, Roberto Soldado and Harry Kane.

But with a pause in proceedings for the international break, now is a good time to see how the Togo front-man has started his season compared with Destro.

As you can see from the statistics below, the Italian has scored two goals so far this season, while the Tottenham star has managed one. Adebayor has however provided an assist, a feat yet to be managed by Destro.

The Roma forward falls short when it comes to key passes, hardly getting in on the action when compared to Adebayor, who also averages more shots per game than the former Tottenham target.

Destro does however have a better passing accuracy than the Spurs man.

Goals

Goal Assist

Key Pass per game

Shots per game

Pass Accuracy

Apps

Mins

Emmanuel Adebayor

1

1

1.14

2.00

78.76%

7

602

Mattia Destro

2

0

0.2

1.6

82.1%

5

275

Roma have used Destro relatively sparingly so far this season, with Adebayor featuring for more than twice as many minutes as the younger player. And while Destro has netted one more goal than the player he was once tipped to partner, that is not reason enough for Spurs fans to regret the fact that he did not sign.

There are other players out there who have started the new season better and would have been a good option for Pochettino, but he has chosen to stick with what he inherited, and it is up to those players to repay his faith.

Vincent Ralph

After graduating with a degree in English Literature, Vincent completed a NCTJ-accredited qualification in newspaper and magazine journalism in 2005. Shortly after, in a somewhat leftfield move, he began working at a secondary school in Kent. After eight years – the last four of which were spent as Head of Sixth Form – he began to write full-time, combining his love of football with his passion for the written word.Alongside his work for HITC Sport, he also writes film reviews for HITC Lifestyle… along with the odd music interview when fate allows.